The first day of ride took a small toll on some of the riders and at breakfast it was written over few faces! There were many riders who for the first time had ridden more than 100kms and they were still basking in their accomplishment. Just awesome! Much of the talk in the morning was about the good roads till Kushal Nagar and the climb to Madikari through bad roads. It was a question of who you spoke to, for few the bad roads were just a few kms into Kushal Nagar and for others it was much more. I decided before the ride that I would ride to K.Nagar and then use the support vehicle to get across the bad roads. I discussed with my brother that we would sweep ourselves. The briefing’s Pradeep held in the mornings were excellent and full of useful information.

The pilot car guided all the riders thru a misty morning to the outskirts of Mysore . A few chats about the past day’s ride still lingered on the bike. Riders were starting to get an idea of others and their riding abilities. As soon as the pilot car stepped aside the pace set in and after a few kms I found myself on the wheels of Samim and Dipankar. Dipankar the strongest rider of TFN in my view was in a hurry and soon I was feeling it in my tired legs! The average speed was well into the mid thirties and after an hour into the ride I decided to let the 2 go and ride at a moderate pace. I had to save my legs for Ooty. I rode on my own for 20kms on flawless roads, the best I had seen on the tour. The terrain was rolling, the roads as smooth as silk. Soon I was craving for some company and I decided to stop and wait for other riders. Soon the usual 3 riders that is Venky, Iggy and Shantanu appeared and I joined them. The pace was nice and comfortable and there seemed more time to take in the surroundings. We passed thru small villages and children would scream in delight and ask if it was a race. I had several motorbikes that stayed on my wheels to ask and inquire or just stare in curiosity. One such motorcyclist stayed on my wheel for nearly 3 - 4 kms and all he did was stare. At point I pointed my finger to my odometer, which read 35km/hr and a brief smile leaked on his face! After the 50km mark we finally had support cars and it was time to refurbish the fluids. Soon we passed a Tibetan settlement and suddenly the place transformed into little Tibet. Monks, Flags and Tibetan writings were all over the place and the place was filled with serenity! We slowed to ride graciously through it.

The arrival of Kushal Nagar was pretty obvious as the roads suddenly disintegrated. The conditions of the roads seemed exaggerated due to flawless roads on which we spent a few hours earlier. 

The legs by now were in it’s own zone and a conscious effort was needed to slow down and negotiate the rough conditions. The group fell apart and each was riding cautiously apart from Shantanu who was on the MTB. The bad roads did not end after exiting the town and the climbs had already started. I knew it was a long 25km climb to the top of Madikeri. In my mind I decided to ride easy and save the bike for rest of the tour.The climb seemed more difficult due to the holes and plenty of gravel at turns on which the tires were just spinning without any traction. Soon I passed Shantanu and I just kept the pace up. The climb combined with bad roads and incoming traffic zooming past kept me very alert and on my toes. I was wondering what my brother was up to as earlier in the morning I had told him that I would take the support vehicle but I was doing the contrary. I was somehow enjoying the climb and was hoping somehow I could pass the message back that it was not so bad to do it. Soon I met 2 touring westerners on their bikes and I slowed for a sec to let them know there was support vehicles behind from which they could access fluids or food if needed. The climb seemed longer than I had anticipated and doubts started to linger whether I was on the right roads. I decided to pull over the support car and soon Shantanu also appeared. We decided to ride together rest of the ride and soon we were in Madikeri where obviously we found Samim and Dipankar already stretching!

Rather than stopping for everyone whom we anticipated to come after a while, we waited for a few riders such as Venky, Iggy etc and decided to head down to the hostel, which was a fast 7km descent down to the valley. We chilled in the afternoon lazing around the premises of the hostel getting much needed massages from fellow volunteers.

Distance - 117kms
Time - 4 hours 39 mins
Avg Speed – 25.1 km/hr
Total Elevation gain – 1843m
Avg HR - 132 bpm ( Zone 1.5)

Tour of Nilgiris 2008

In the early months of 2008 when I posted a note on Bikeszone looking for partners in crime to tour the Nilgiris, little did I realize then that I was sowing the seeds for something that probably had the potential to shape Indian cycling. Yes I do feel like that! TFN will get bigger and better. What started as an inner desire to cycle thru the blue mountains soon caught flame and erupted due to similar interests from individuals like Ravi, Pradeep,Venkatesh, Sharath, Sriram, Abhi etc to name a few. The guys worked extremely hard over the months of November and December to realize the potential of TFN. After the registrations started to pour in, the sponsors followed suit and TFN eventually became a reality.

Much of it is history now and I will just add some notes about my ride here instead. To begin with deep inside me I was skeptical of riding TFN due to a lower back injury that had plagued over the past 2 months. Due to some determined hard work put in by a bunch of excellent chiropractors in the US combined with Yoga and a lots of swimming behind me minus time on the bike, I landed in India on the 10th Dec to make my ride thru the nilgiris a reality. My immediate goal was to get in some sort of form on the bike and I trained over 2 weeks in Bombay not the best of locations for it. The back was still hurting and my goal soon switched to surviving TFN. I focused on hill training on the only km of climb I could find around my home in Bombay as long distance rides were out of question.

I landed in Bangalore on the 24th and was very excited to meet other cyclists participating in TFN. Many of them I already knew from BZ but this was a chance to connect faces to their nicknames! My brother Rakesh was one of the last riders to get into Bangalore. I was well awake into the night waiting for his arrival. He arrived at midnight, we had a few hours of sleep and early morning we got his bike assembled and we were on our way to the event. My adrenalin was already pumping once I got into my jersey at 5 am! The hotel staff were a little confused to see us in our attire getting into the lift. We rode from our hotel in darkness, my driver acting as a pilot to guide us thru the city. We bumped into other riders and soon it felt that everybody on the street was heading to the grounds either on bike or foot!

Bangalore - Mysore.
The ride started with a police escort to guide us safely out of the city. Within the city itself the line of cyclists started to stretch over a km. Once we reached the outskirts the ride was all set to kick in. The faster riders set a pace right at the start and I was thinking this was not exactly what I had in mind. I knew the adrenalin was pumping in everyone but there was still 140kms to go! After the initial 30 mins spend in trying to find the dynamics of everyone, I decided to settle into my groove and ride, though at times I did regroup or waited for other cyclists. This was the first time I was riding on a Indian national highway and my mind was well aware of it. At one point I decided to wait for my brother and rode some 20kms with him. At the half way mark I was well settled and the lunch stop appeared sooner than later. I was averaging 33km//hr over the first 75km of the ride. I had just found my pace and I was in no mood to stop and have lunch. We decided to skip lunch and just keep riding. We told ourselves that we could take a small break at Mandya at the 100km mark. At Mandya we were surrounded my many onlookers who had 100 questions about the ride and the bike. We patiently answered many of their queries. After the break the heat started to get to me, the conditions were hard for me and I decided to ride thru to Mysore without any more halts. Two weeks before TFN I was in minus temperatures in the US. During the break many cyclists passed us each at their own pace and rhythm. Once back on the bike I left my brother as he was having cramps and wanted to ride slower.
I regrouped with Venkatesh, Iggy and Shantanu ( who had passed me earlier during the stop in Madhya) right at the outskirts of Mysore and we rode together for a while into Mysore. The group would ride together for every few kms and then fall apart. Every little climb towards Mysore was testing the legs of every rider after the 125km mark.

My legs were showing signs of fatigue, the ride thru Mysore had disrupted my rhythm and by the time I got to Chamundi severe cramps had settled in and I was low on fluids. Luckily my wife located me on the foothills of Chamundi, I struggled to even get off the bike. My close friend suggested the climb to Chamundi was brutal and I was left to ponder whether my lower back would cave in? After 10 minutes spent with massages and refurbishing fluids I decided to give the 6km climb a crack. I knew I could not stop, as the cramp would come back so I settled into a rhythm and started climbing. Within the first km I passed most of the riders who had passed me and I knew there was only Shantanu ahead. Shantanu who hails from Pune was riding a mountain bike and he was the only rider who kept that kind of a pace on a MTB. He would grind those big gears and was awesome to watch. Samim and Dipankar the fastest of the bunch had already reached by then most likely. At the last 2 kms I started to finally get a glimpse of Shantanu whenever the roads straightened after the numerous turns. The view to Mysore became more of a birds eye view and I knew not much was left.

My legs were crying loud for pain and started to work with an incentive to catch him. The cramps started to creep in, the heat was just too much, and I was running on adrenalin more than anything and at point I emptied a bottle of gatorade on my head thinking it was water!

A support car that had stayed with me over the entire climb kept close to me, maybe they found it amusing or maybe they were also into it totally! I managed to finish 10 metres behind Shantanu just before the apparent finish line where my family and friends were waiting for me. I was relieved and happy that the 150km ride was over but this is why I came to ride TFN and the pain was irrelevant!

Stats -
Distance - 151kms
Time – 4 hours 59mins
Average speed – 30.5 km/hr
Max Speed – 60.2 km/hr
Avg HR – 135bpm ( My Zone 1.9)
Calories burned - 5380cal
Elevation Gain - 1716 metres